Hindou Ibrahim, SDG Advocate and Indigenous Rights Activist, discusses the critical role that indigenous populations play in protecting life on our planet – its biodiversity, land, and climate in her interview with the UN. The International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change is founded by Ibrahim. She established the Association of Indigenous Peul Women and Peoples of Chad at the age of 15. Indigenous groups like hers have defended the environment for ages. They look after more than 20% of the land on our planet and 80% of its biodiversity. Indigenous groups have traditionally been on the periphery of official international climate change debates.
In 2015, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change established the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, giving them their first opportunity to speak alongside governments. Governments committed $12 billion at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in 2021 to halt and reverse land degradation and forest loss by 2030. Scientists have labelled indigenous groups as “some of the top ecological stewards” in recent years. Their traditional wisdom can help reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss, battle climate change, and end food insecurity. Ibrahim: “We must all take action to combat climate change and safeguard the planet from the wars that are escalating on a global scale.”
